First of all, English is definitely not my native language, so please be very, very, very patient with me ;)

The Quatro carpet measures 160x160 cm (in inches: 63x63). For the entire project you will need 1400 meters (1532 yards) of 5 milimeters thick cotton string: 1300 meters of undyed string and 100 meters of gray string, or any other color you like. I use the same kind of string they put in sweatshirts to tighten the hood. Of course it's better to order a bit more than 1400 meters, just to be on the safe side. I used a plastic 10 mm crochet hook (US: size N/P, UK: size 15). If you use a smaller hook, you will need less string, but I don't know how much less. The whole work took me about 15 hours.

The carpet is done in two parts: the outside frame and the inside filling, both parts being done in the round. It's best if you sit on the floor the entire time, you can then iron parts of the carpet with your behind ;) If you crochet the whole thing sitting comfortably on your couch, the carpet will come out crooked and you will have to wash it and block it. And believe me, it's not easy with something that heavy.

I put some copyright remarks at the bottom of this post, please read them!

Frame

The frame is done in the round from the inside of the carpet to the outside. So you should be sitting in the middle of the carpet while crocheting it. Start by making a long chain, put hairpins in some of the loops while you crochet to mark the corners:

A total of 324 stitches. Now put the chain on the floor and form it into a square. Once you've made sure it doesn't twist connect the first and the last loop with a slip stitch.

To crochet the remainder of the frame follow this diagram (click to enlarge):

You can also click
[ here ] to open the above diagram in a new window.

Notice that rounds 6 and 7 are done in the back loop only!

Filling

The filling
is also done in the round, but this time from the outside of the carpet to the inside. You should be facing the middle of the carpet while sitting on the frame.

The diagram for the filling is much more complicated than the one I drew for the frame. I first tried a couple of types of software for drawing crocheting diagrams but they didn't really work for me. In the end I had to draw it by hand and there is no chance in hell it will look any better in the foreseeable future :( Anyway, here it goes:

Click the above picture to enlarge it or click [ here ] to open it in a new window.

There are several important things you need to remember:

The red chain on the outside of the diagram has already been done - it's the same chain you crocheted for the frame. So, don't make it twice!

Some rounds are done in the back loop.

The blue zig-zag should be done in color #1.

You will have to google up some stitches, like back-post dc. Or you can see how it's done on [ youtube ].

I didn't have enough space to draw rounds 22, 23, 24 and 25 - so I wrote down the instructions in the middle of the diagram.

Apart from following the diagram you can also take a look at some photos I made after almost every "inner" round:

Inner round #1: ss with color #2 around in the back loop, skip the corner loops with hairpins. You can take out the hairpins.

Inner round #3: make 17 dc in each arch and then an ss somewhere in the middle between the arches. If the arches overlap, you may want to try hdc's instead of dc's. In the corners just ss until you're 3 stitches away from the new arch.

Inner round #4: with color #2 ss in the back loop of the middle 7 dc's of each arch. Make 2 ch between the arches. In the corners ss in 4 dc's of the arches, don't do any ch between them.

Inner round #5: put a dc in the back loop of every ss, ignoring the 2-ch spaces. In the corners make: 2 dc, dc4tog, 2 dc.

Inner round #6: starting from the 3rd stitch from the corner make ch 1 (it will pretend to be an sc) and repeat: (3 ch, skip 2 stitches, sc) all around. You should have 19 3-ch spaces on each side and 4 3-ch spaces in the corners.

Inner round #7: repeat: (dc4tog in 3-ch space, 3 ch) around except for the corners. In each corner 3-ch space make dc3tog and no chains connecting it to other dc4tog's.

Inner round #8: make 3 sc in each 3-ch space. It was so boring I forgot to take a photo.

Inner round #9: make dc all around in the back loop only. In the corners make dc4tog.

Inner round #10: zig-zags! Place the hook above the second dc4tog from the corner, but still on round #9. Make 3 ch and fasten with an ss to the front loop above the next dc4tog on round #8. Again make ch 3 and fasten it to the front loop above the next dc4tog on round #9. Repeat until you've covered the whole round.

Inner round #11: sc around in the back loop. In the corners make sc3tog.

Inner round #14: 3 dc in every 3-ch space. In the corner 3-ch spaces make only 2 dc. You should have 40 stitches on each side.

Inner round #15: ss around in color #2 in the back loop, skip the corner stitch. You've already done so much:

Inner round #16: sc around in the back loop, in the corners make sc3tog.

Inner round #17: start from the 4th stitch from the corner and repeat 4 times: { (4 sc, 2 ch, skip 2 stitches, 4 sc)3 times, ss until you are in the 4th stitch behind the corner }. On each side you should have three 2-ch spaces.

Inner round #18: make 10 tc (treble crochet) in each 2-ch space. Also, make 1 ss somewhere in the middle between the 2-ch spaces. In the corners make sc7tog in the back loop.

Inner round #19: this round is barely describable even in Polish, so just look at the diagram and the photos :) Basically, on each of the fans from round #18 you should make a new fan with back-post dc's.

Inner round #20: ss around in the back loop in each dc and each ch. You've already done so much:

Inner round #21: dc all around with a few exceptions:

in the corners make dc8tog,

make dc5tog where the fans meet.

Inner rounds #22, #23, #24: dc around, but in the corners make dc5tog.

Inner round #25: sc around with color #2, in the corners make sc3tog.

THE END :)

Copyright notice

You may

make a carpet using my design and even sell it to make lots of money :)

if you make a carpet, it would be great if you e-mailed me its photo and wrote a few things about yourself, like your name and where you're from, etc...

You should

if you make a Quatro carpet and put photos of it on your blog or a website or your facebook account, you should always clearly state where the design came from and provide a link to my blog or my facebook account.

You may not

claim this design to be yours,

copy this design to your website or a blog (instead, provide a link to my blog),

reprint this design in a magazine or a book without asking me first and paying me for it.